The Municipal Art Society of New York

Now is your chance to tell the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) that you support the designation of the Prospect Heights Historic District. The LPC will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, October 28, 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. at the Municipal Building. This hearing is the second step in protecting one of Brooklyn’s finest – and most endangered – historic neighborhoods.

Prospect Heights is threatened by the Atlantic Yards project, a proposal by the developer Forest City Ratner to build 16 towers and a sports arena on a 22-acre site that abuts the boundaries of the proposed historic district.

Encompassing roughly 870 properties, the proposed Prospect Heights Historic District is rich in historic architecture, with blocks of beautiful Italianate and neo-Grec rowhouses, interspersed with churches, small commercial and apartment buildings. Located just north of Prospect Park, the neighborhood has seen few changes since it was first developed in the late-19th Century. Click here to read more about the history.

MAS has worked in partnership with the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Corporation (PHNDC) in advocating for the designation of this neighborhood since 2006 when it provided a basic training program for neighborhood residents on historic building survey techniques. Over 20 local volunteers took to the streets to catalogue and photograph roughly 1,100 buildings, information MAS staff then converted into a map using its in-house Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology. In early 2007, the two groups submitted a comprehensive report including the database, photographs and a proposal for a historic district of more than 800 buildings to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

“MAS applauds the Landmarks Preservation Commission for moving to protect this very special and threatened neighborhood,” said Lisa Kersavage, director of advocacy and policy for the Municipal Art Society. “This is a historic district of exceptionally fine architecture and without the protection of historic district designation this neighborhood is at risk because of increasing development pressures caused by the Atlantic Yards development.”